


talk of the town

by ohtempora



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21913468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohtempora/pseuds/ohtempora
Summary: "So," Jefferson starts."Dad, I swear, I didn't mean to cut Art Club every day this week, it's just—""That you're the new Spiderman?" Jefferson says, and oh, damn, that was not the way he wanted to lead into this.
Relationships: Jefferson Davis & Miles Morales
Comments: 35
Kudos: 560
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	talk of the town

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sandyk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/gifts).



It doesn’t take long for Jefferson to realize Miles is the new Spiderman.

Okay, look — Miles and him have had their differences lately, especially since Miles started at Visions, but he knows his kid. There’s something about the jerky, excited way Miles moves that Jefferson will always recognize. It’s stayed with him since Miles was a toddler, running around the precinct; stuck through the disastrous soccer unit in elementary school P.E. that ended up in a call from the school nurse; hung around through the times Rio took Miles to hit in the cages out in Prospect Park. 

There’s video of the new Spiderman everywhere. People watch it on their phones at the station. He’s all over the local news, all over Instagram. And Spiderman hugged him. It takes about an hour to put it together, once Jefferson sits down to really think, and even then he’s ashamed it took that long.

Miles went to get soup dumplings with Ganke in Flushing, and he’s struck with a deep, sudden worry that it was a lie, like so much else apparently has been. He looks just in case. There’s nothing about Spiderman on social media, but. Still. He’d okayed the Flushing trip, glad Miles was finally trying to make better friends at Visions, even though they had so little time together on the weekends. Unless—

Jefferson pulls his phone out and texts Miles. _All good?_

 _yes DAD_ comes back almost immediately, along with a selfie of him and Ganke with a stack of bamboo steamers almost shoulder-height, Miles with an entire dumpling stuffed in his mouth. 

_Ok. See you home for dinner if you’re still hungry._

_haha prob will be dw!_

He doesn’t like the sigh of relief that follows that last text. 

Miles comes back from Flushing with Ganke in tow, groaning theatrically about how much they ate. 

“I hope you didn’t spoil your dinner,” Rio says, appearing suddenly through the doorway. Jefferson smiles at her, reflexive, just as real as it ever is. 

Miles groans some more. “It’s called Dumpling Galaxy, Ma, were we not supposed to eat the entire galaxy of dumplings?”

“I guess that makes sense,” she says. “We won’t eat for a while, anyway, your father is cooking. Ganke, you’re welcome to stay.”

“Thanks, Ms. Morales!” he says, and the two of them trip off to Miles’s room to do something that Jefferson desperately hopes doesn’t include making more stickers to vandalize the city with. 

He’ll talk about it, the Spiderman thing— they’ll save that discussion for tomorrow.

Tomorrow turns out to be early afternoon, Ganke sleeping over, him and Miles staying up late enough that they’re both dead to world once it’s noon. Jefferson bangs on the door once the sun is high in the sky and listening to the teenaged groans emanating from within.

“It's past lunch!” he calls, and grins to himself when Miles yells back, “but it's Sunday.”

“I’ll take you to get an egg and cheese!”

“Okay, okay,” comes through the door, and Miles and Ganke emerge a few minutes later, yawning. Ganke gathers up his things to go home while Miles pulls a hoodie over his head, still blinking away sleep. 

“You need a ride home, Ganke?” Jefferson asks. 

“Nah, I’m going to catch up on my podcast on the train,” Ganke says, and heads out, waving goodbye to Rio on the way.

Jefferson grabs Miles’s coat and waits for him to tie his shoes up, then gently pushes him out the door. Brooklyn is mid-weekend busy, the streets humming with people. Miles dodges a woman with a stroller with a lanky, jerky ease Jefferson thinks must be new, must come from — moving. Swinging. Dancing on top of parked cars, hopping between elevated train tracks, getting high up above the city and looking down.

They go to the bodega on the corner and get breakfast sandwiches: two for Miles, one for him. Jefferson gets a coffee, regular, and breathes in the steam. It's a little late in the day for caffeine, but, well. Off chance he really needs it. Mr. Chang waves goodbye to them as they head towards the park and Miles spins to wave back.

Jefferson doesn't bring it up immediately. Doesn't want to freak the kid out. Besides, he hasn't spent that much time with Miles recently, and it's nice to walk through the park, people-watch a little. Brooklyn is just — maybe it isn't the place Jefferson picked, back when he was young, but it's the place he wants to be. He doesn't think about how, if they'd moved out of the city when Miles was a baby, he wouldn't be about to have this conversation. They'd be up in Westchester somewhere, maybe the Hudson Valley, green all around them instead of concrete, big house instead of cramped apartment, less noise on the street at night.

He takes a slow sip of coffee and can't bring himself to regret it.

Miles finishes his second sandwich and tosses the bag at a trash can. He seems twitchy. Like he knows something's up. To be fair, it is.

"So," Jefferson starts.

"Dad, I swear, I didn't mean to cut Art Club every day this week, it's just—"

"That you're the new Spiderman?" Jefferson says, and oh, damn, that was not the way he wanted to lead into this. 

Miles straight up stops in his tracks.

"What?"

"It's okay," Jefferson says, even though it isn't, and he's Miles's dad, he doesn't know if it ever will be. "Miles, you gotta know there's video of you all over the internet. Was I not supposed to recognize my own son? I've been chasing after you for years." He scratches the back of his neck. "Plus, you know, you hugged me. That was kind of a giveaway."

"But— my voice, I made it deeper, and, and the mask, and the costume—"

"Miles," Jefferson says, voice low, and that does it, Miles just throws himself at him, wrapping his arms hard around Jefferson's waist, hanging on to Jefferson with his whole body, hugging in a way he hasn't in years. "It's okay," Jefferson says, and he crouches some so he can whisper right in Miles's ear. "It's gonna be okay, Miles. We got you, alright? Me and your mom, we got you."

"You're not mad?" Miles asks, once he's caught his breath, arms still around Jefferson's waist.

"Oh, you're grounded until it's time to leave for college," Jefferson says. "And maybe for your first semester. But it's gonna be okay."

He thinks Miles even believes it, and that’s what matters. They’re gonna be okay. 


End file.
